1912 Victor fielders mitts

[mikesglove]

The fielders mitt was something of a hybrid having the the flexibility of a glove coupled with the greater surface area of a mitt to catch a ball. This 1912 patent by Burt Rogers for Victor Sporting Goods encased a glove in a sheath of leather. The design is really a refinement of Joe Gunson's original 1885 invention.

This is the glove assembly with the felt padding overlayed

This is the empty leather sheath to fit over the glove

This is the finished product after sewing the two pieces together. Like the earlier 1911 Victor "pita Pocket" glove, the finger stalls of the glove are only attached at the fingertips to the edge of the sheath. This was done to keep the flexibility of a standard glove.

Not sure if these are Victor fielders mitts but they do have the same characteristic of a flat top as opposed to the oval top of other brands

[mikesglove]

From a 1915 Victor catalog. Gloves show no heel lacing

Victor fielders mitts with heel lacing from a Wright & Ditson Catalog. Interesting that Wright & Ditson was selling Victor gloves and mitts before their merger

[mikesglove]

This nice looking fielders mitt is from an ebay auction. It is pretty similar to the preceding examples. I was trying to determine the manufacturer from the worn patch. I am not really familiar with early glove patches. I was hoping it would be discernible enough to be a "Victor" model. The patch seems to be red lettering on a white background. I don't recall "Victor" having that color scheme. The only other choices in my limited knowledge would be either a "Diamond" brand or "Edw.K.Tryon". I wonder if anyone else has ideas.

patch1.jpg (6.44 KiB) Viewed 3719 times

[bing]

It looks like there is a "1" on face of the glove. Its near the top. I have a spalding mitt thats looks exactly like this one and it has a "1" as well.

[Number9]

My guess would be a red Spalding tag.

[mikesglove]

Here is a Reach 6F model from http://www.baseballglovecollector.com. It seems to be of identical construction (even down to the button and grommet web) to the ebay mitt just presented. Since A.G. Spalding owned Reach, your take on the mitt being a Spalding with a red Spalding tag looks to be right on.